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Quinatzin.

Headword: 
Quinatzin.
Principal English Translation: 

the name of the man who founded the important altepetl of Tetzcoco; we are retaining the reverential suffix here, awaiting clarification of the name, which seems to be that of a non-Nahua indigenous man; he also had the epithet Tlaltecatl

Attestations from sources in English: 

"Before Quinatzin (1298–1357) founded the city of Texcoco, it might have been a small village near a forest where Quinatzin's grandfather, Nopaltzin, had a hunting retreat (Alva Ixtlilxochitl 1997, 2: 19)."
Jongsoo Lee, The Allure of Nezahualcoyotl: Prehispanic History, Religion, and Nahua Poetics (Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press; 2008).

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

Tlaltecatzin: Segundo nombre de Quinatzin, que se interpreta como el que establece tierras; en virtud de un acontecimiento histórico conocido...." Víctor M. Castillo F., "Relación Tepepulca de los señores de México Tenochtitlan y de Acolhuacan," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 11 (1974), 183–225, y ver la pág. 192.